In an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, Suck & Blow: And Other Stories I’m Not Supposed to Tell, Blues Traveler frontman John Popper looks back to the band’s performance at Madison Square Garden. His account of this mishap-ridden night also includes his account of a prank he attempted to pull off that would have denied Phish the opportunity to perform at the venue on New Year’s Eve 1998.

Popper will be signing books on both coasts over the next two weeks (and the book is available online as well).

Saturday, April 2 Book Revue Huntington, NY 7 PM
Sunday, April 3 Strand New York, NY 7 PM (with Dean Budnick)
Monday, April 4 Bookends Ridgewood, NJ 7 PM
Monday, April 11 Book Soup West Hollywood, CA 7 PM (with Steve Lemme)

In Suck & Blow: And Other Stories I’m Not Supposed to Tell, Popper shares a candid, spirited account of his life and career. Written with Jambands.com founder / Relix Editor-in-Chief Dean Budnick, the book chronicles how Popper, a “straight-F student” at Princeton High School, changed his life with one serendipitous harmonica solo that captured the attention of his mercurial band teacher. (The same teacher whose life was later fictionalized in the Academy Award winning film Whiplash.)

It goes on to explore the formation of Blues Traveler, the band’s early days in the lower Manhattan music scene of the late 1980s (including a stint as the initial house band at Wetlands Preserve), the guidance of initial manager Bill Graham, Popper’s role as co-founder of the H.O.R.D.E. tour, the development and impact of the multi-platinum four album, and his many subsequent travels and travails in the realms of music, politics and Hollywood.

The Allman Brothers Band, Spin Doctors, Eddie Vedder, Howard Stern, Bruce Willis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, David Letterman and the Clintons all figure into the musician’s journey (there’s much more on Phish as well). Popper also doesn’t hold back when discussing his longstanding battle with obesity, the untimely death of founding Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan, and his recovery from angioplasty and gastric bypass surgery.